01-20-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - Not bringing ones' A-Game in an important tournament contest against the host school can sometimes turn disastrous.

On Friday night at the Benton Invitational Tournament, pre-tourney choice and state-ranked Pinckneyville was clearly not at its best.

But instead of wilting in the bright lights in front of the large crowd at Rich Herrin Gymnasium, the Panthers survived and stayed undefeated in the round robin event.

In spite of poor free throw shooting and some anxious moments in the second half, coach Dick Corn's crew 'stayed the course' winning the pivotal Friday night rivalry contest with Benton, 58-52 to go 3-0 in the tourney, 17-1 overall.

Pinckneyville can win its second straight Benton title with two more wins on Saturday.

With the loss, Benton fell to 2-1 in the BIT, 10-9 overall.

The Panthers were uncharacteristically cold from the free throw line, hitting just 13-of-28 from the stripe.

A strange performance considering this clubs' stature in the Class A 'rank-and-file.'

Nevertheless, as has been the case for most of the season, the Rangers have had trouble in the close contests. Benton failed to take advantage of the free throw shooting problems by their opponents on this evening.

Benton head coach Matt Wynn quickly defused any sort of let down about his club; despite of the number of recent close losses.

"I am real proud of our kids and we have went through a stretch where we have lost some close ballgames but they have been resilient," said Wynn. "We keep telling them that good things will happen if we keep working hard. We are playing good basketball and think that we are a better team right now than we were at Du Quoin despite being 4-0."

The Panthers led most of the game, but none of their advantages looked safe.

Coach Corn's kids sprinted out to a quick 9-3 lead in the early going, using buckets by Kyle Cassity, Austin Winter and Zack Hawkins to take command. Cassity scored on a nice lay in courtesy of an assist by Lyle Winter in the run.

But the Rangers cut into a lead in a hurry.

Five points in the opening eight minutes by Todd Browning and a late score from Casey Ainslie cut the Panther spread to 11-8 at quarter's end.

Benton achieved two ties during the second period, hanging with the highly touted Panthers.

A 6-0 run on back-to-back 3-pointers by Bryson Hammond and Sayler Shurtz got the game even at 16-apiece.

Shurtz had gotten lost in the shuffle on the offensive end when he buried the wide-open shot with 3:52 remaining.

A basket late in the quarter, an offensive putback by Hayden Hicks as he followed up his own miss, ended the first half scoring at 20-18 Pinckneyville.

The Rangers finally cashed in enough chips to mount a comeback to take their first lead of the game with 5:43 left in the third frame.

A Browning score in the lane and another Hammond 'trifecta' gave Benton the lead at 23-22.

But Pinckneyville quickly responded, snatching back any momentum that the Rangers had taken.

Hicks took a pass from Cassity and turned it into a score and an assist.

That basket was followed on the next possession by a 17-footer from Ryan Rushing just before the buzzer. His score made it 34-29 heading to the fourth quarter.

Benton made runs in that last stanza, only to see the Panthers counter each time.

Ainslie and Browning each scored seven points in the final eight minutes.

An Ainslie 3-pointer and a Browning rebound score closed the gap to its smallest in the final quarter at 36-34 with 6:15 remaining.

But an Austin Winter score, a Skyler Graskewicz bucket and a baseline drive by Cassity culminated a 42-35 Pinckneyville spurt.

But perhaps the biggest shot came from Graskewicz, when this 5-foot-10 junior connected on a 3-pointer at the top of the arc on an inbounds play.

When the shot fell the scoreboard read 47-39 Panthers.

The Pinckneyville fan base had some anxious moments in the late going as the Panthers didn't do a good job of holding onto the lead.

Missing seven free throws in the final 3:37 will make even the most diehard Panther fans sweat bullets.

Benton's Seiger Shurtz canned his only basket of the night, a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut the lead to 55-50.

After Hawkins failed to convert either of his two free throw attempts with :31 second left, Browning drove the length of the court for a basket and suddenly the Rangers trailed just 55-52 with :23 to go.

However that would prove to the final points for Benton, as Hawkins scored on a spin move in the lane and, after another Seiger Shurtz miss, Austin Winter made 1-of-2 free throws with :06.4 left to close out the game and the victory for the Panthers.

"I know that playing close really doesn't matter because we are going to have to win some of these games," added Wynn. "I would rather win them in the postseason than right now and I think we are building toward that. Hopefully we can change some things and keep getting better."

Both teams' defenses played well and it showed in the final numbers.

Benton was just 17-of-45 from the field (38 percent) and, as it has been for most of the season; the majority of the attempts have come from behind the 3-point arc.

Coach Wynn's group hit just 7-of-25 from far outside while going a respectable 10-of-20 from 20-feet inward.

The Panthers were 22-of-48 (46 percent) on the night and they, too, were better in close. The Panthers had just the one 3-pointer (Graskewicz) on the night in ten attempts.

The two teams were near even on rebounds with Pinckneyville gaining a 30-29 edge.

Pinckneyville had four players hit for double-figures in scoring, led by Cassity with 13.

Austin Winter tallied 12 and Graskewicz and Hawkins added ten each.

Ainslie and Browning shared team honors with 14-points each for the Rangers while Hammond and Sayler Shurtz scored nine apiece.

Neither team has long to dwell on the outcome as both head back to play in a few hours in the Saturday afternoon and evening sessions.

Benton will take on Okawville at 12:30 pm and then tackle Hamilton County at 7:30 pm.

Pinckneyville will suit up against Cairo at 11 am then will comeback to close out the tournament with a game against Carlyle at 9 pm.

In other games Friday night at Benton Invitational, Carlyle beat Cairo 73-59 while Hamilton County topped Okawville in the final game of the evening,

	1	2	3	4		Final
Benton	8	10	11	23	-	52
Pinckneyville	11	9	14	24	-	58

Benton (52) - Sa. Shurtz 0 1 6-6 9, Hammond 0 3 0-0 9, Satterfield 0 0 1-4 1, Browning 6 0 2-4 14, Se. Shurtz 0 1 2-2 5, Ainslie 4 2 0-0 14.
2FG-10, 3FG-7, FT-11-16, PF-21.
Pinckneyville (58) - Hicks 3 0 0-0 6, L. Winter 0 0 1-2 1, Cassity 6 0 1-6 13, Graskewicz 2 1 3-4 10, Woodside 0 0 0-0 0, A. Winter 3 0 6-8 12, Rushing 2 0 2-4 6, Z. Hawkins 5 0 0-4 10.
2FG-21, 3FG-1, FT-13-28, PF-17.
Fouled Out - Se. Shurtz, Benton.
Technical Fouls - None.